Ramblings on bookish matters. Horror and fantasy have the lion’s share, but not exclusively. Occasional interviews, art posts and bumblings.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Cover art - "The Bones of the Old Ones" by Howard Andrew Jones (UK edition)

Howard
Andrew Jones’ “The Desert
of Souls” is one the books I enjoyed in the past two years, but in the tumultuous
times I experienced lately I was not able to properly showcase and review it.
But since “The Desert of Souls” will be released by Head of Zeus in the UK on
April in hardback edition and on August in paperback edition maybe I would get
a chance to finally review Howard Andrew Jones’ novel. If this comes to happen
is uncertain, what it is certain for me though is the appeal of the covers used
by Head of Zeus for “The Desert of Souls” and “The Bones of the Old Ones”, the follow-up novel also due to be
released in the UK on August. For “The Desert of Souls” Head of Zeus went for
the initial book cover used by Thomas Dunne Books in the USA for the hardback
edition of Howard Andrew Jones’ first novel in “The Chronicle of Sword and Sand” series. I am thrilled with the
choice of the UK publisher, because the artwork made by Charles Keegan is a thing of beauty and one of the best book covers
I’ve seen lately. Even more, I am really excited to see the publisher going with the same artist and the same feeling for the cover of “The Bones of the
Old Ones”. I do not know the reasons behind Thomas Dunne Books’ decision to go
for a different kind of cover for Howard Andrew Jones’ “The Bones of the Old
Ones” and for a short while I was all right with that particular artwork.
However, although not exactly a poor choice that cover pales in comparison with
the artwork made by Charles Keegan for the UK edition. It is more artish, it
matches the feeling set by the first cover and inflicts the sense of continuity
given by a series. It is the type of book cover I like to see, connected with
the story and representing something from the tale while as an artwork it also has
a life of its own.

5 comments:

Ross, indeed these covers are amazing. I love them both a lot, the wonderful feeling they gave me.

Michael, the Arabian Nights feel is felt in the stories too. I enjoyed that feeling in "The Desert of Souls" and since "The Bones of the Old Ones" follows the new adventures of Dabir and Asim I think that it will not stray from it. I really need to read the second novel too. :)

David, there are some beautiful covers in the US too. After all, the cover of "The Desert of Souls" was initially on the cover of the US hardback edition. And I know how are you feeling, I personally bought some books based on a better cover although they were a bit more expensive. :)